XP and quad core CPUs

Can somebody explane does Windows XP support quadcore CPUs and does it use its full power?

 

Absolutely. XP Home/Professional both support quad CPUs. "Supporting" quad CPUs on Windows is more application specific.

 

As LockBox said. It is more application specific.

However Windows will do a pretty good job of handling itself so most applications will get the full use of the resources it needs.

 

On one system I have Q6600 @ 2.4Ghz overclocked to 2.83Ghz and running XP Pro x64-bit. This is extremely fast, Quads run at full throttle on 64 so 64 is the way to go. Most Custom made systems now are supplied with 64-bit as 4GB of ram is the go these days, a x32-bit system will only use approximately 3.25GB of a 4GB RAM leaving the other .75 wasted.

However to maximize this issue, If you have 2 internal drive C: and D: or an external drive for data, Enable the page filing for both drives as system managed, you then get an extra 8GB virtual RAM to speed up your system

 

in regard to ram restrictions on 32 bit systems,yes 3,25 gig of ram can be used at most,rest is for system and such.
If your motherboard allow that,fill every slot with ram,in my case i have 8 gig on a 32 bit xp and its fully used,mostly for photoshop pagefile(scratchdisk)
I use a RAMDISK to get the full 8 gig used and its unbelievable how fast photoshop will get the bitscrunching done.